Dark Doom Close
by Shizuka no Taisho
Summary: She was the guardian of the gates of time. Yet with all her power, there was not she could do. "Death," she whispered. The end of everything.  manga based: the end of Silver Millennium, from Pluto's POV


The screams of her home world were vast in the depths of space. Planets and stars wept at the terrified cries, and with each echo of pain the tears slipped down her face. She was alone, forever frozen in the chaos of time, and yet in her loneliness she had allowed herself to feel true attachment for those now falling lifeless to the lunar earth. But she could do nothing to stop it. Gripping her talisman, a keyed staff and garnet crystal, the woman known only as Pluto sank to her knees. Why was she being forced to watch this? No matter the timeline, each path led to the same fate; the Princess, beloved daughter of her queen and mistress, dead in a pool of glistening red. Her love, the Prince of Elysion, slaughtered by the Negaverse, the jealous and corrupted Beryl laughing over their corpses. Worse, the people, Silver Millennium…Pluto gagged. She could smell the blood, taste it on her tongue.

She was the guardian of the gates of time. Yet with all her power, there was not she could do. Time had spun its threads, ensnaring her home world in a web of malicious treachery. Not even Chronos himself could save those she loved and held dear.

Her Garnet Rod quivered in her hand. Blinking back tears, Pluto held it tightly, mist congealing around her boots as she slowly rose to her feet. Something was calling her. Her talisman was awakening, and it yearned for its kin. That meant….

"Death," she whispered. The end of everything.

The Door of Space-Time rattled, creaking with the moans of her people, and she bowed her head, silken trails of black whispering across her face, tickled by an unseen wind. Pluto lifted a gloved hand, feeling a taint of fresh sea gloss her fingers. "Uranus…..Neptune." She nodded, unable to hide her tears. It didn't matter. Who would punish her for showing her misery?

"Time….show me the way." Pluto twirled her staff, a familiar weight in her hands. Before her shadows pulsed, illuminated by the glow of garnet from her crystal, and a single stretch of beaten stone appeared at her feet. She looked at it, vaguely admiring the way it vanished into nothingness. How appropriate.

The path before her twisted and dipped as she walked through the shadows of time, the chain and keys around her waist jingling with each hesitant step. She didn't want to go any farther; only more misery laid before her. Still she walked, and walked, pausing only when the old dust of her home world was emerging at her sides. Pluto stopped, and space swallowed her up, whatever paths of time that had led her there vanishing without a trace. So was the power she possessed. Her expression grew only more despaired, and she gazed up into the vast depths of glittering sky. Marble pillars and turrets blended naturally into the starry planes, making her clutch harder at her Garnet Rod. It would have been nostalgic, seeing the pale form of her castle, if the situation at hand was not so heart wrenching.

She sensed their arrival minutes later, or was it hours? Time flowed differently for her, after all. They came out of the shadows, two forms clothed in midnight shades of blues and greens, each bearing the weight of the world on her shoulders. Clouds of numbed pain shrouded their eyes, but none more so than the lithe woman who held the Space Sword tight in her hand. Pluto said nothing. For the Outer Senshi who guarded the solar system, and the Silver Millennium, lonely suffering was a shield equally worn.

"Pluto," Uranus fell to one knee before her, agony fresh in her sapphire eyes. "The Princess….is she..?"

Pluto only turned away. "….we cannot go against fate, Uranus."

Uranus sobbed, the name of their princess falling from her lips like a beloved lullaby. Pluto left her be; she would be of no comfort. "Pluto." A hand came to rest on her shoulder. Neptune, senshi of the sea, fixed an aquamarine gaze on the guardian of time. So much was spoken with those dark eyes, she didn't need to say a word. Her mirror had shown her the truth.

Silver Millennium was gone. Evil was threatening to take over the universe. And Princess Serenity…. "For the love of our Princess, our Queen, and the kingdom we call home." Neptune extended her hand, and the Deep Aqua mirror flashed, showing the visions that had obviously plagued her and drawn her to Charon. Pluto watched them coolly, even as her insides writhed. Her dearest princess dead, slain by her own hand. The queen in tears, blood staining her dress as she clutched her dead daughter to her bosom, screaming her name. It was mortifying, and sadly Pluto knew the images were current; Serenity's screams of agony seemed to stab through the faux veil of peace hovering around her palace, and they were joined by a wretched moan from the soldier of the skies, still on her knees in the dirt.

"She's dead…" Uranus buried her face in her hands, and Neptune went down on her knees, wrapping the blond in her arms. Pluto stared at the two, leaning heavily on her talisman. It still maintained a gentle glow, and that glow brightened when she leaned down to place a hand on her companions' arms. Neptune and Uranus both looked at her, then at their weapons. "What…this has never happened before…"

"The sea is roaring," Neptune murmured. Pluto gave her a solemn look. Could the warrior of the seas envision the future, as she could?

The blue haired girl's lips curved into a despaired grimace, her clutch on the mirror tightening.

Yes…..she could.

Gripping her staff, Pluto stood tall and looked down at her fellow senshi. "We must gather the talismans. That is our destiny." When Uranus shot her head up, gaping at her, she sighed and looked away. "It is too late to turn back now. We have been called here…."

"Pluto, we can't! You know what'll-"

"The wheels of time have already begun to turn. Uranus…Neptune." With practiced grace she lowered her rod, letting the crystal illuminate the two other talismans carried in gloved hands. Uranus and Neptune stared as they began to glow; the talismans were reacting to one another. Their fates were sealed. "We must call forth the goddess." Pluto glanced up to the sky. It was so far away, but their beloved Silver Millennium's cries were tunes of desolate sorrow. "It is the end."

There was nothing more they could do. And the two other senshi knew it, just as well as she did. Silently, Uranus rose to her feet and unsheathed her sword, letting its jeweled scabbard fall to Charon's dust. Neptune held forth her mirror, crossing it over the gleaming silver blade. They pulsed with light, reacting. Pluto felt tears freshly sting her eyes, and she touched the tip of her Garnet Rod to the sword and mirror. "…come forth, Goddess of Destruction."

She met her comrades eyes; deep set blues were filled with sorrow, and anger. Their duty was to protect the outer reaches of the solar system; forbidden to step off their home worlds, or to meet. That was the order of Queen Serenity, who now held her dead daughter in her arms. Nothing could've been done. None of them could disobey their orders.

But the Silver Millennium and its people were dying. And so they had gathered together, their talismans calling them forth to perform the one duty each of the outer senshi had never hoped to do. Pluto let the tears roll down her face, watching tendrils of white erupt from the crossed weapons. Whirling and melding into a shapeless mass, she sensed it deep in her chest; the coming of _her_. Saturn, the Goddess of Destruction. The fourth outer sailor, locked away within the darkest reaches of that forbidden planet, only to be awakened when the three talismans resonated. That was what Serenity had told her, so very long ago, when she had first been gifted with the Garnet Rod. Her duty was to watch the Door of Space-Time. Never to interfere, or change the path of time. She only watched, guarded, and protected the solar system. And if the time ever came when their kingdom fell….

"Always an unwanted guest," came the soft whisper from the mass of white, and Pluto stared quietly, sweeping her gaze across the long limbs and satin hair that slowly emerged. A blade was thrust out of the energy, the hand holding it clad in a long white glove so like her own. "You summoned me, I presume." Dark purple irises shone with power, the promise of destruction heavy. "Uranus. Neptune." The bringer of silence was lowered to her feet, purple skirts swishing in an imaginary wind. Her crystal brooch glinted, streams of metallic red flowing out behind her as she turned, the glaive in her hands ominous.

Pluto knew her well. They were both prisoners of their station, doomed to eternal loneliness and fear. "Saturn." The senshi turned to her, feathery bangs whipping across those powerful eyes. "You know why you are here."

"Time Keeper," Saturn murmured. "Never changing, and always so cold." Stepping away from the three, she looked into the sky, a peaceful expression on her face. "The Princess has fallen. Serenity is in pain." Her lips curved into a smile. "Destruction. How beautiful."

Uranus looked ready to leap at her, but Neptune held her back with a well placed hand. She said nothing though; after all, what did one say to the senshi who was going to bring about their death?

Saturn ran a finger down her Silence Glaive, the weapon's blade pale as the moonlight from their beloved kingdom. Uranus and Neptune took a step back, and Pluto moved to stand with them. Them, against the most powerful senshi in the cosmos. There truly was no hope anymore. "Saturn, you-"

She lifted a hand, cutting Pluto off. The dark skinned woman's heart began to pound in her chest, and she heard the blond beside gasp, a panicked hand moving to her neck. Already the breath was leaving their lungs, pushing them into the darkness of death. Neptune, strong and beautiful, held her companion in her arms, and Pluto smiled sadly. At least in the end, they had each other. Her post had gifted her with unimaginable power, but she was alone in her misery. She had no lover to comfort her, or dry her tears. There was only time, and the darkness of space. "Perhaps that's for the best…." she held her talisman to her chest, warm tendrils of power wrapping around her form. They wouldn't protect her from death, but really, the senshi wasn't even sure if she could really die. She was the daughter of Chronos, a god.

"All creatures die."

Pluto saw the goddess of death look at each of them, her gaze lingering heavy. She knew…. "Even you, daughter of Chronos," Saturn nodded to her, and hoisted the glaive above her head. Black shrouds of glitter seeped from her hands and snaked through the air around her, wrapping her figure in ribbons of energy. She let her head fall back, and Pluto saw her lips form the words, though nothing was spoken.

"Death Reborn Revolution…."

Time, space; they both stopped dead in their tracks. Pluto watched it descend, her fingers digging into shattered rock and dirt. Every one of her senses seem electrified, granting her perfect sight to watch the destruction at hand. "Saturn…."

The point of the glaive touched the moon's surface, and a hushed serenity fell upon them. It was the touch of nothingness, granted to them by the woman entwined in glowing black.

…in a way, it was beautiful. Pluto listened to the world around her, hearing it fall silent. Even the cries from Silver Millennium became dim. Saturn was destroying them all. She thought of her princess, cold in death, and whimpered. She loved her so. Protecting the Silver Millennium, and by extension the ones she loved, was all that had mattered, was all the woman had ever wanted. Yet she had failed. Death had been summoned.

A soft hand glided across her face. Saturn….she was kneeling before her, the glaive solemn in her right hand. Odd, Pluto thought. She hadn't even realized she'd fallen to her knees. "Don't fight it," Saturn touched her lips, strangely gentle. "Let yourself go. This is the end." She moved away, and the glaive was sliced through the air above the fallen senshi's bodies.

"The end-but-" her voice faded, and Pluto ran a hand down her throat. There would be no more speaking.

The world around her grew blacker, as if the shadows of time were swallowing it whole. Pluto couldn't even envision her home world anymore. Nothing….blank and desolate. Her limbs grew heavy with fatigue, a pulling at her eyelids threatening to darken her vision forever. Already Neptune had fallen to the ground to her left, Uranus holding her hand. Their sword and mirror laid forgotten on the moon's earth, the glow long gone. All power was being seeped by the magic of Saturn's glaive; Pluto could all but see it vanishing from her body. But Saturn herself seemed to be dying as well; her body was glowing, and she watched the bringer of death be levitated into the air, spots of white overtaking pale flesh. Saturn…..the most powerful senshi of all…Pluto closed her eyes. Was this how she was to die? Uranus and Neptune at her side, bodies being swallowed up by the very power they had always fought to keep locked away? …how fitting. A lonely death for the saddest of senshi. A sole tear, the last she would ever feel, rolled down her cheek. No hope at all. They would vanish into the depths of time, punishment for their sins.

Saturn didn't struggle for breath, unlike them. But she lifted her head, weak, and Pluto closed her eyes under that piercing stare. "Senshi…." a soft whisper tickled her ears, holding her out of death's reach. It was Saturn. She was speaking. Pluto listened, the last dregs of life oozing from her body.

"….remember this, Guardian of Time," Saturn spoke once more, a faint echo to her words. Pluto knew, without even thinking; this was the last time Saturn would speak. And it was the last thing she herself would ever hear.

"Always in the end….comes the hope of rebirth….."

Blackness overtook them all. Silver Millennium went cold, windless skies lifeless and bare. Pluto felt nothing, and her body went limp in the dirt of her palace grounds. Dark Doom Close. The world had ended.

They were gone.

_**Just a little story about when the Outer Senshi gathered to watch the destruction of Silver Millennium. This is more based on the manga, since it was the resonating of their talismans that called forth Saturn and caused everything to die. I wanted to write this scene, mostly to pass the time, and to break from everything else I'm working on. Hopefully it wasn't a waste of your time. And I apologize for OOC'ness, but I'm not an SM writer lol (and I hate the ending . but ah well)**_

_**Oh, about the title. Dark Doom Close is the attack Pluto used in the manga, during the Mugen Arc, to close the doors to another world, trapping the enemy. It seemed appropriate to use it here, considering what's happening. Besides, this is more from Pluto's POV. So the title had to be after her (in a way)**_

_**Hope you enjoyed**_

_**~Shizuka **_

_**(disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon. Just making that clear!)**_


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